Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

"Flames... Frozen Dead... Matchstick Girl? Hmm?"

Shard found himself surprised by a sudden realization.

At this moment, they had once again returned to the seemingly completely normal hallway. Miss Luisa glanced at the golden cracks that still had not faded from Shard's body, while Shard learned from the woman in his mind that there was still a strong presence of the "Whisper" Element nearby.

Just as Miss Luisa was about to raise her hand for the third time, she suddenly looked up:

"Watch out!"

Black mist shot toward Shard from the ceiling of the hallway above, and Miss Luisa hurried to block it, while Shard's reaction, though not as quick as the Female Sorcerer's, was also timely as he raised his hand towards the ceiling.

But before the traces of moonlight could take shape in his hands, the golden radiance covering his body flashed abruptly.

The dark mist let out a dreadful scream, then darted into the floor and disappeared. In the real world, the Divine Afterglow State could only make Shard's Arcane Technique and Sorcery a bit stronger, but in the mental world, no evil could approach him.

The golden-haired girl holding his hand smiled and teased:

"Quite a nice ornament."

"Hmm..."

"No need to explain, its willingness to attack us, risking exposure, suggests that we are about to leave the dream soon, which is a good sign. Detective, focus, we're about to return to reality."

This time, the two Runes that lit up were "Writer" and "Dream."

Ripples like Runes fluttered from Miss Luisa's fingertips, merging into the fabric of the dream. As everything before them shattered like glass, the two holding hands came back to their senses and found themselves once again in the normal third-floor hallway, with the golden cracks on Shard's body completely gone.

Reminded that the intense presence of Whisper Element around them had vanished, they both breathed a sigh of relief. It was only after leaving the dream to return to reality that they could deeply feel the difference between dreams and reality.

Shard discreetly released Miss Luisa's soft hand:

"What shall we do next?"

"Detective, follow me. I'm going to show you how to deal with a Relic gone out of control. Honestly, I told you this trip would be trouble-free, but here we are. That pen is truly..."

Miss Luisa flicked her hair and summoned the Ring of Fate behind her in the real world. After a quick glance around, she approached the door next to the staircase and neatly kicked it open with the lift of her dress hem.

A chill, bloody wind immediately surged out of the room, and by the time Shard caught up, Miss Luisa had already charged inside.

The room resembled a storeroom or an antique collection room, with Professor Manning's other antiques placed on shelves against the walls, with the more precious ones encased in glass domes.

Now the Professor himself lay on the floor, curled up, with dark smoke rising from his head and connecting to the black cat standing atop him. A fountain pen, black with red stripes, was sticking out of the Professor's wrist with the cap off.

Reading the stripes as writing, Shard understood their meaning:

"Blood weaves dreams, you possess me."

The nib was inserted directly into the Professor's bloodstream, absorbing his blood while causing the veins in Manning's right hand to bulge alarmingly.

Looking at the pen, a lazy voice by her ear reminded her of the appearance of the "Whisper" element, and Miss Luisa furrowed her brows, pointing at the black cat:

"This is the nightmare born from Professor Manning's dreams!"

"But why is it a cat and not a person?"

At this moment, Shard still remembered to ask questions, but unexpectedly, it was the black cat that provided the answer, its voice scratching like fingernails on glass:

"Because the image he poured his blood and affection into was that of a cat."

"Hmm?"

Imagining what might have occurred in the dream where the Relic "Joyful Dream Pen" was created, Shard looked at the comatose Professor Manning with awe and terror.

"Circle Sorcerer, we bear no grudge, why take me away from his side? I love him, and he loves me."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

That slender black cat's mouth did not move, but its clear voice reached the ears of both parties.

"Do you take us for fools? How many have you drained dry once the owner succumbs to temptation?"

As she spoke, the Miracle Soul Rune "Flame" lit up in the Ring of Fate behind Miss Luisa. Golden flames leaped from her hands into the air, and as if the flames burned away space itself, a sound of shattering glass filled the room.

The sunlight-flooded collection room vanished, and it turned out to be an illusion. What revealed itself before Shard was a dimly-lit bedroom, with thick drapes and a heavy strange odor, the floor littered with black cat fur, and Professor Manning, with a fountain pen stuck in his wrist, still lying on the floor. The nightmare cat, however, was nowhere to be seen.

"Over here!"

The writer's golden flame rushed toward the ceiling, and with a glance upward, the black cat appeared as if it had been mashed into a pulp and then spread out flat, clinging to the ceiling.

The ceiling was originally adorned with a pattern of the starry sky, now entirely covered by the semi-translucent black cat skin, from beneath which numerous huge cat eyes emerged, as if the starry sky had opened countless bizarre eyes looking down on them.

Shard felt an instinctual discomfort, with that twisted shape and force of mental corruption, even a brief glance by an ordinary person would have been enough to avoid the need to be sent to Dr. Schneider. A sensation of nausea hit his stomach, and dizziness befell his head, fortunately, the divine glimmer was protecting his spirit.

Worse still, although the golden flames successfully touched the abnormal monster on the ceiling, they did not inflict any harm on it. Within the mush-like cat, clusters of small buds began to grow, and then, amidst the spine-chilling cries, those buds grew into long, spiked tongues lickering downwards.

Shard did not wish to look up again, but upon hearing the noises from above, he managed to withstand the nausea, and the silver moonlight in his hand transformed into an arc-shaped Light Blade to strike above. Yet such an attack only held back the tongues but could not harm them.

"It is semi-corporeal, with part of it still in the dream, watch me! What you've seen are just simple Arcane Techniques, now, the one I'm about to use, is my very own signature Arcane Technique!"

Miss Luisa said, as the Core Spirit Rune "Writer" and Enlightenment Spirit Rune "Matchstick" lit up at the same time.

She took out a rolled-up parchment from her pocket and tossed it into the air, where it burned as it fluttered, flickering with Spiritual Light.

Miss Luisa softly recited the Spell Words, which were in the common language of Draleon:

"Across reality and fantasy, within the glimmer of a matchstick, let me witness your story."

The burning fire, like a lit candle's flame, made an image of a bare-footed, diminutive figure gradually become clear. Her legs were frozen to a blue and purple bruise, her single garment patched with five or six patches, her golden hair tied up as if unwashed for years, and her basket contained several boxes of matches.

The only part that remained unclear was the face, but it faintly bore features similar to those of Miss Luisa.

Shard's eyes slightly narrowed, and he was now completely certain, "Ancient Fairy Tale: Matchstick Girl," was indeed the tale he knew so well.